Mankind Is At Its Best When It

To Course Across More Kindly Waters Now My Talent's Little Vessel Lifts Her Sails, Leaving Behind Herself A Sea So Cruel; And What I Sing Will Be That Second Kingdom, In Which The Human Soul Is Cleansed Of Sin, Becoming Worthy Of Ascent To Heaven.

The Loser, When A Game Of Dice Is Done, Remains Behind Reviewing Every Roll Sadly, And Sadly Wiser, And Alone.

The Purpose Of The Whole [the Comedy] And Of This Portion [the Paradiso] Is To Remove Those Who Are Living In This Life From The State Of Wretchedness, And To Lead Them To The State Of Blessedness.

The Greatest Gift That God In His Bounty Made In Creation, And The Most Conformable To His Goodness, And That Which He Prizes The Most, Was The Freedom Of Will, With Which The Creatures With Intelligence, They All And They Alone, Were And Are Endowed.

I Affirm That Gain Is Precisely That Which Comes Oftener To The Bad Man Than To The Good; For Illegitimate Gains Never Come To The Good At All, Because They Reject Them. And Lawful Gains Rarely Come To The Good, Because, Since Much Anxious Care Is Needful Thereto, And The Anxious Care Of The Good Man Is Directed To Weightier Matters, Rarely Does The Good Man Give Sufficient Attention Thereto. Wherefore It Is Clear That In Every Way The Advent Of These Riches Is Iniquitous.